Refrigerating apparatus



tPatented Nov. 19, 1940 A n UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEFicE 2,222,569 aErarGEnA'nNe APPARATUS Edward B. Newill, Dayton. Ohio, assigner to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, hio, a corporation of Delaware l Application August 3, 1939, Serial No. 288,187

. 'i Claims. (Cl. 62-89) 'I'his invention relates to refrigerating appa- Fig. 2 is a transverse horizontal cross-section ratus and more particularly to a food storage arthrough the refrigerator cabinet disclosed in rangement in household refrigerator cabinets. Fig.v1 and taken on the line 2--2 thereof show#- An object ofmy invention is to provide an iming a plan view of a receptacle supported upon a proved household refrigerator cabinet for the shelf employed in the refrigerator.; and 5 storage and refrigeration of a variety of food Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical secproducts and particularly moisture laden or beartional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing foods such as left-overs from the table, vegeing an upper shelf forming a cover for the open tables and fruits. top of the receptacle. l0 Another object of my invention is to provide Referring to the drawing, in order to illustrate 10 an improved apparatus of low manufacturing my invention, I have shown in Fig. 1 thereof a costs for refrigerating fruits and vegetables in a refrigerating apparatus of the household type mechanically cooled refrigerator, for instance of comprising a cabinet I0 having a metal exterior the domestic type, so that the fruits and vegeshell or panels H and an inner metal liner i2 tables may be maintained in their original crispspaced therefrom and forming walls of a chamber 15 ness for extended periods or restored to their I4. In order to insulate the chamber. I4 I place original crispness. any suitable or desirable insulation material `l5 A further object of my invention is to provide between the outer Walls Il and the chamber walls an improved household refrigerator cabinet I4. A door opening providing access to chamber wherein the shelf arrangement within the food i4 at the front of cabinet l0 (see Figi 2.).isy nor- 20 storage chamber thereof, and normally openmally closed by an insulated doorstructurell3. topped receptacles adapted to contain certain I mount an evaporator I6 of a closed refrigerate foods are constructed and arranged to cooperate ing system within th chamber 'I4 bysuitably with one another in such a manner that only a supporting and suspending same from the top limited or restricted circulation of air occurs bewall thereof. Evaporator I6 has conduit connec',F 25 tween the interior of the receptacles and the tions with a refrigerant condensing and lique-v evaporator of a refrigerating system mounted fying unit (not shown) vusually located in the within the chamber of the cabinet. f lower part of the cabineti below the insulated A still further object of my invention is to prochamber il as is conventional in the art. The vide the food storage chamber of a refrigerator evaporator I6 may beformed to provide walls o f 30 cabinet with a plurality of shelves or partitions a sharp freezing compartment for containing for dividing the chamber into compartments and trays of liquid to be congealed orfrozen and the which partitions or shelves are provided with an exposed refrigerated walls of the evaporator vcool imperforate area cooperating with the tops of and cause circulation of air within the cabinet normally open-topped containers or receptacles chamber I4. 35 to form a cover therefor which limits or restricts A plurality of partitions or shelves, generally the circulation of air between the contents of represented by the reference character 2|), .are the receptacles and air within the compartments. horizontally disposed and removably supported In carrying out the foregoing objects it is a within chamber il, in uniformly spaoedapart more specific object of my invention to form the vertical relation to one anotherfroi n supports 40 imperforate area of the shelves or partitions of or tracks 2i secured to the side walls of liner, I2. glass to provide for visibility of contents of the These shelves 20 partition kthe chamber lflgnto receptacles in the plurality of compartments a plurality of superimposed food storalgec0mformed by thc shelves or partitions upon openpartments 22. Each shelf -or 'partition ,,2llV 1ining the cabinet door leading to the refrigerated cludes an imperforate portion preferablyin'the 45 food storage chamber of the refrigerator. form of a glass plate 23 which forms the major Further objects and advantages of the present part of the area of the shelves. The glass plate invention will be apparent from the following 23 of each shelf or partition 20 is bounded on its description, reference being had to the accomside and back edges by a, frame device 25 (see panying drawing, wherein a preferred form of Fig. 2). The three-sidedframe device 25 com- 50 the present invention is clearly shown. prises a metal member bent over upon itself at In the drawing: the two sides of the shelf to provide a fiat portion Fig. 1 is a transverse vertical sectional view 26 which is perforated by the provision therein through a refrigerator cabinet having my invenof a pluralityvof elongated openings V21. Opention embodied therein; ings 21 extend through the flat portions 28 of 55 frame 25 and provide for the communication or flow of air, circulated by evaporator i in the refrigerated chamber I4, between the food compartments 22. By bending the lower portion of 5 the frame member downwardly as at 28 (see Fig. 3) its edges 29 are spaced apart and a groove is formed between the portions thereof adjacent the edges. This groove receives the glass plate 23 and the portions of frame adjacent its edges 23 are pressed against and sealed to the plate 23 in any suitable manner such as by cement. It will be noted that the area `of shelves or partitions 2l in a direction toward the rear of cabinet Il is less than the actual depth of chamber Il and therefore a space exists between the rear edges of the partitions or shelves and the back wall I2 of chamber I4 and a space 3| also exists between the front edges of shelves or partitions 2l and the inner face of door I3. The two spaces 30 and 3| provide for the circulation of the circulating air around the front and back of partitions or shelves 20 and the openings 21 provide for the circulation of air through the partition at the two sides thereof. While I have disclosed the spaces 30 and 3l to provide ample circulation of air between the compartments 22 my invention may be carried out without such spacing and by merely utilizing the openings 21 in the partitions 23 for air circulation between the food storage compartments.

'I'he partitions or shelves 23 are adapted to support different varieties of food products within the refrigerated chamber M and in accordance with the present invention the construction and arrangement of the partitions or shelves 23, which play an important part therein, are such as to removably receive and support open-topped glass containers or receptacles 35. These receptacles may be of any desired shape or size in horizontal cross-section and are preferably of a uniform height relative to one another which height is slightly less than the distance between the top of the glass plate 23 of the partition or shelf upon which same is supported and the underside of the glass plate 23 of an upper or adjacent partition or shelf 20. The plate 23 of an upper partition or shelf 20 thus forms or provides a cover for the receptacle or receptacles 35 supported on a lower shelf or partition and the short space be tween the plate 23 and the top edge of the receptacle permits a limited air circulation between the contents of the receptacle and the air within the compartment 22. Therefore in the storage of food products in the refrigerator cabinet disclosed the ordinary or substantially dry foods may be distributed throughout the refrigerated chamber in theconventional manner. However. moisture laden or bearing foods such for example, as vegetables and fruits are placed in 00 the containers or receptacles 35 so that when the containers are positioned on the partitions or shelves 20 their top edges are in close juxtaposition relative to a plate 23 of an upper partition or shelf to thereby restrict communication of 55 their contents with the air within chamber I4.

By extending the frame device around the three edges only of the glass plate 23 there is no obstruction at the front edge of the partitions 20 to the sliding of the receptacles outwardly of com partments 22 and therefore the receptacles may be readily removed from the refrigerated chamber.

In a refrigerating apparatus f the type disclosed the evaporator of the refrigerating system 75 is maintained below 32 F. and air circulated thereby and thereover within chamber Il is refrigerated below 32 F. The .refrigerated air is then circulated over and in contact with the food receptacles 35 while still at a temperature below 50 F. The limited flow of cold air into the receptacles 35 containing vegetables or other moisture laden or bearing foods prevents rapid evaporation of moisture therefrom while at the same time providing sufilcient evaporation to prevent the growth of molds. Thus a relatively moist condition of the air within the receptacles 35 is maintained and such condition insures that the cells f vegetables contain substantially the same amount of water which they originally contained in their fresh condition over long periods of time in contradiction to openly exposing the vegetables to the drawing effect produced by the evaporator i6. The general idea of restricting the passage of air between vegetables and other.

food products and the air cooled by an evaporator in a mechanically refrigerated refrigerator, while the products are being stored in cold storage, has been practiced prior to the present invention and proven to insure the prevention of rapid growth of molds, yeast or bacteria. My invention is therefore particularly directed to a refrigerating apparatus of novel construction and arrangement for carrying out one method of properly storing vegetables and other food products and for providing ample receptacle storagespace with limited air circulation between the receptacles and air within the refrigerated chamber.

The refrigerator construction disclosed particularly the construction and arrangement of the shelves with the food receptacles and their cooperation with one another provides an emcient apparatus of low manufacturing cost. By constructing a major shelf area of a transparent material such as glass the contents of the various receptacles are readily visible through their covers upon opening the refrigerator cabinet door. My improved apparatus eliminates the provision within a refrigerated chamber of a refrigerator cabinet of only a few covered containers, commonly referred to as hydrators. and permits the use of as many receptacles as desired for the cold storage of moisture laden or bearing food products in a novel manner and at various localities throughout the interior of the refrigerator. The improved construction offers all the advantages of a conventional refrigerating apparatus and has additional features that are advantageous' to the user such, for example, as adjustability of the receptacles into any of the various compartments which are inherently of slightly different temperature relative to one another and adjustability of the receptacles into different positions within the same compartment with respect to the locality of the major circulation of air therein. 'I'he uniform`height of the receptacles and the uniform spacing of the shelves or partitions permits the user of the refrigerating apparatus disclosed to employ a plurality of the receptacles and the user is thereby not limited to the use of one or two so-called hydrator space.

While the form of embodiment ofthe invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having an insulated chamber therein, a cooling element of a closedrefrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for chilling and causing circulation of air within said chamber, a. plurality of verticallyspaced apart partitions within said chamber dividing same into superimposed food storage compartments, said partitions having a reticulated portion forpermitting -ow of the circulating air between said compartments, one of said partitions having an imperiorate area, an open top food storage receptacle adapted to be supported upon another of said partitions below said one partitionvand in vertical alignment with the imperforate area thereof, and said receptacle being of a height slightly less than the distance between the imperforate area of said one partition and the top of said another partition whereby said area of said one partition provides a cover` for the receptacle, the said height and arrangement of the receptacle with respect to said partition cover forming area providing a limited space between said cover and the top of the receptacle to thereby restrict the passage of air between the interior of the receptacle and said chamber.

2. A structure in accordance with claim 1 wherein the imperforate area of the one partition is formed of transparent material permitting visibility of the contents of the receptacle through its cover.

3. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having an insulated chamber therein, a cooling element of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for chilling and causing circulation of air within said chamber, a plurality of vertically spaced apart partitions within said chamber dividing same into 'superimposed food storage compartments, said partitions having an imperforate portion and a portion spaced from a wall of said chamber for permitting flow of the circulating air between said compartments, an open top food storage receptacle adapted to be supported upon one of said partitions below and in vertical alignment with the imperforate portion of another partition, and said receptacle being of a height slightly less than the distance between said partitions whereby said imperforate portion of said another partition provides a`cover for the receptacle, the said height and arrangement of the receptacle with respect to said imperforate portion of said another partition providing a limited space between said cover and the top of the receptacle to thereby restrict the' passage of air between the interior of the receptacle and said chamber. Y

4. A structure in accordance with claim 2 wherein the imperforate portion of the partitions is formed of transparent material permitting visibility of the contents of the receptacle through its cover.

5. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having an insulated chamber therein, a cooling element of a closed refrigerating system mounted within saidcabinet for chilling and causing circulation of air within said chamber, a plurality of vertically spaced apart partitions within said chamber dividing same into superimposed food storage compartments, said partitions including a glass plate and a metal member extending along the sides and back thereof, said metal member having a plurality of openings therein permitting iiow of the circulating air between said compartments, an open tcp food storage receptacle adapted to be supported upon one of said partitions below and in vertical alignment with the glass plate of another partition, and said receptacle being of a. height slightly less than the distance between said partitions whereby said glass plate of said another partition provides a cover for the receptacle, the said height and arrangement of the receptacle with respect to said glass plate of said another partition providing a limited space between said cover and the top of the receptacle to thereby restrict the passage of air between the interior of the receptacle and said chamber.

6. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of insulated walls forming a food compartment therein, said compartment having an opening therein and a door for closing the opening, a cooling element of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for chilling and causing circulation of air in said'compartment, a horizontal partition within said compartment cooperating with the walls thereof and with the inner face of said door to divide the compartment into an upper and a lower food. storage space, said upper and said lower food storage spaces being accessible by movement of said door, said partition having an imperforate area, an open-top food storage receptacle within said lower food storage space and mounted on a support below said partition in vertical alignment with the imperforate area thereof, said receptacle being of a height less than the distance between the imperforate area of said partition and the support whereby said imperforatearea of said partition provides a cover for the receptacle, and the said height and arrangement of the receptacle with respect to said partition cover forming area providing a limited space between said cover andthe top of the receptacle to thereby restrict the passage of air between the interior, of the receptacle and said compartment.

'7. A structure in accordance with claim 6 wherein the imperforate areal of the partition is formed of transparent material permitting visibility of the contents of the receptacle through its cover when said door is moved into open position.

' EDWARD B. NEWILL. 

